The Rising Sun: Episode 1 by J Hawk Read Free Book Online Page B

next to him with a large, burning portion of the roof
having landed over him. He stirred feebly, his sword beside Ion.
Ion slowly picked himself up, reaching for his own sword. He felt a
roar of inner fury as he locked eyes with the fallen mystic on the
floor of this burning house.
     
    He bent down
over Vonayz and whispered, “You wrecked my life. I wrecked yours.”
He stood back up, dusting ash from his shoulder. “Consider us
even.”
     
    And then,
dousing his blade, Ion slid it back into its sheath, turned and
walked off as the rest of the blazing structure came tumbling down
around him…

     
    The
present
     
     
    This was no
ordinary enemy, which Ion had made. A part of him was almost
grateful that the two of them would never meet again. For if they
ever did, Ion’s luck might have run out.
     
    Shaking himself
out of his daydream, he brought his attention back. Night had
landed, and the village was now in utter silence. He barely found
people walking about by the lanes. The shops by the side of the
street were all closing down, and people were sealing themselves
inside their houses.
     
    As he slowly
fell back to focus, a new worry clotted at the back of his mind.
And as it did, the joy of victory died away, replaced by a quiet
sense of foreboding.
     
    The words rang
at the back of his mind:
     
    “ This planet
is on the Naxim’s highest priority list. The Naxim’s lookout and
alertness in this planet’s sharper than in most others. They’ve got
a tight hold here, and anti mystic security is way too high. If a
mystic tries wandering to Sacrogon, he’d be risking every hair on
his body.”
     
    Earlier on,
when the Iveling in the cruiser had told him this, he had been
slightly shaken: he hadn’t been aware of the fact that the planet
he was entering now was so dangerous for mystics. But he reasoned
with himself that this was the final stage of a long struggle, one
which would finally end when he had Grando killed. And now that he
was here at the end, it would be foolish to back out. And so,
pushing his fear away, he had decided to go on and enter Sacrogon
to do what he had come here for. Despite the heavy risk involved.
But with the task now over, the earlier fear came gushing back to
occupy his headspace…
     
    He was now in
one of the most dangerous planets for a mystic to be in.
     
    It’s all
right. He reasoned with himself. This is a village. I’ve
only gotta be afraid of a place where there’s a Naxim base. There’s
no way there’s one anywhere around here for miles around.
Everything’s fine. All I need is to get out of here as quickly as
possible, and make sure no one knows I’m a mystic.
     
    Though there
was truth in this argument, Ion knew that his fear was well
asserted: getting out of the planet was the hard part. He had used
public transport to arrive. And he would use public transport to
leave. He only hoped that there was a ship station closeby for him
to catch the next ship out of the planet: The station he had
arrived here in was literally on the other side of the planet, and
it had taken him an arduous task to cross the planet from that
station to get here. He now needed one that was closer and easier
to reach.
     
    He wandered
down the dark lane for a few minutes, before coming to a stop by
the house of the village headman. Which he identified through a
large banner propped by the side of the house. The village had come
to an end here, and a vast barren terrain ran forth beyond the
Headman’s humble two storey house. Sitting in front of the door in
a rocking chair was a man playing a small hand sized guitar. He was
cloaked, with the large lopsided brown hat over his head covering
the upper half of his face. A large silver bag pack rested by the
side of his rocking chair.
     
    “I’m looking
for the village headman.” Ion said, stopping by the man’s side.
     
    The man lay the
guitar on the ground beside the silver bagpack and looked up. He
was en Elfling, with prominent